So, to start with we are a plural system (multiple personalities in case you’re not familiar). Amnesia is a real pain for us and so some of us for some time have been infatuated with the idea of implants. Also the idea of living in a cyberpunk future seems pretty awesome. It’s only recently after we started looking seriously into implants that I was able to categorise the main problems we’re trying to solve as “identification” and “authorisation” and “access.” The less physical stuff we have that can be left lying around or lost, the better. The smaller our everyday carry is, the less we have to worry about.
I read the “Secure Microcontroller SmartMX3 P71D321 Fact Sheet” which seemed to have pretty technical information including talking about ePassports, eIDs, eHealth cards, eDriver’s licenses, and others. I read the “BEGINNERS GUIDE to implants & becoming a cyborg,” and “Chip Implants 101.” I think I’ve managed to get my head around as much of the information as possible, limited by our dissociation, and at this point we just really need help filling in the blanks and best advice on which implants and platforms would be best for our needs. For reference, we live in Australia, but would love to travel in the future.
Driver’s License (accessible via the “Service NSW” app)
Passport
Medicare (national healthcare care - accessible via the “Express Plus Medicare” app)
Private Health Insurance
Disability Support Pension Card (accessible via the “Express Plus Centrelink” app)
Emergency / Medical Information - DID information card, list of our disorders, list of our medications (we use the Medisafe app to keep track of our medications and it would be awesome if there was some way to link that to an implant)
Payment Card - debit card, PayPal, crypto-wallet (we don’t partake in crypto but a wallet was something that was suggested by another system member)
House Access
Work Access
Vehicle Access
2FA for Passwords
Password storage
electronic access for phone, computer, etc (much like facial recognition or fingerprint recognition)
Now we’ve heard about the Apex which sounds like it’s the Spark but better. Is the Apex kind of going to be the ‘everything chip’ because of the VivoKey electronic platform giving it more flexibility and capabilities? Would the Apex likely be able to do most/all of what we’re thinking? Are there any other options that might be better than the Apex for some of our goals?
We really do appreciate any and all help with matching us up with the right solution.
That’s the goal, but sadly most of your usecases would require big players to acknoledge implantees.
E.g. passports, drivers licences, health insurance etc would all need officials to work with VivoKey and/or Fidesmo.
I have hopes for it though once it’s out it requires us cyborgs to spam the officials with requests for it!
No. Once the apex drops, it will be the most versatile implant.
Only “work access” might prove difficult as they might not be able to work as you do not control the reader (you might need to get another chip for that, depends on the system used.)
Payment is also unlikely to be possible in the near future, but it might work with the Apex some day, so yeah maybe.
Many of the usecases you listed could be done without the Apex even, let me reduce the list.
Emergency / Medical Information - DID information card, list of our disorders, list of our medications (KINDA, if you just put the text on the NFC chip?)
Payment Card - debit card, PayPal, crypto-wallet (NO, but check out payment conversions)
House Access (YES, if you buy new locks)
Work Access (MAYBE, most likely NO, I’ll get to that later)
Vehicle Access (YES, if you mod your vehicle)
2FA for Passwords (KINDA, typing first part of password, then scanning chip with the KBR1 to complete the password, I call it pseudo-2FA)
Password storage (NO… well KINDA, you could store some encrypted passwords outside of the NDEF records of a NFC chip and read them with custom software)
electronic access for phone, computer, etc (KINDA, YES for PCs, NO for phones)
All others are NO, or NOT YET, for the reason stated above.
Work Access: If you scan your work badge with “TagInfo” we might be able to tell you more about that specific use case. It might actually work with an apex, but it also might require another chip e.g. xEM or xM1 or just wont work at all.
I was really vague with most descriptions, just ask for more info if you need it
You could get a good chunk of your usecases done with multiple implants, one of them being the Apex.
A NExT could cover (almost) everything I listed above.
Thank you! If as you say the Apex is basically everything except ‘maybe’ the work access then I think that’s our best option for an all-around chip, and we could get a second chip just for work if we needed it. We don’t currently have electronic work access but we won’t be at our current job for too much longer I don’t think. Us cyborgs just have to put pressure on authorities as you said to recognise us. I think we’ll just wait for when the Apex drops and just get that.
There was a post about the Westpac bank finally having an option to be able to do payment chips for Australians, but we are with Commonwealth Bank so still a no-go for us at this point. Maybe in the future, though.
Ian
Edit: I did just go back over the Apex information that’s available https://www.vivokey.com/apex
The OTP applet would give us 2FA, the NDEF Data applet would let us have the emergency information, DID info card, list of medications etc. I don’t quite know how the PGP would work but more encryption is a good thing. U2F would give us access to computers and devices perhaps? Keepass is a password vault though I don’t know exactly how the Apex would give you access to it (we moved over to Bitwarden recently which has been awesome, but if Keepass is what we have then we can take a look at it). The other applets are a bit vague but all great options. Definitely Apex it is for us!
PGP can store the private key on a smart card. In that case in order to encrypt anything you need to read the smart card. In this case the smart card would be the implant. (It is actually more complex than that as the key never leaves the card, but this is the rough description)
U2F is “Universal 2 Factor” and will allow you to use 2 factor authentication on systems that are configured to use it.
The Apex should also have the ability to emulate a few chipsets (however the UID is not changeable)
So this means, if your work access is HF, there is a reasonable chance you maybe able to emulate it with an Apex.
Because the UID is not changeable, you would still need to enroll it.
Do you have any further info on your work access system?
If not, a good place to start is to scan your access card/fob with NFC Tools or similar
if it doesn’t read, it is probably LF.
If it does, then it is HF.
Our current workplace is very low-tech. Nothing electronic, and the keys to unlock the door screens are actually a little twisted and bent from use. We don’t expect we’ll be there for too much longer (the bosses don’t understand or desire to understand mental illness) so who knows where we’ll be working in the future.
Really having trouble getting our head around PGP but I’m sure it’ll be useful.
Had a bigger read up online about U2F and the Yubico stuff that we’d looked at in the past. Seems very cool and I think we’d enjoy using that for sure.
Gotcha. So it’s an encryption protocol. Good to know. We’re still having trouble understanding exactly how VivoKey would fit into that, I’m guessing probably in storing the private and/or public keys, but I’m sure once the applet is finished it’ll make sense.
We’re looking forward to the Apex.
The private key never leaves the chip, the cryptography happens in your body. If something was signed with the private key from your chip, it’s practically 100% safe it was you who signed that.
That’s pretty cool. I’m still wondering what specific examples would come up, but there’s an imperial ton of possibilities.
Also just found out like 5 minutes ago that because we are now getting disability pension, we are eligible for cheaper public transport with a pensioner opal card: Pensioners
I have no clue if opal cards can be cloned or not but it would amazing to be able to have that on the Apex chip. I remember that some guy cut the chip out of his card and implanted it, but the company sued the pants off him and it blew up in the news a few years ago: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/9555608
I’m guessed based on the lengths he went to that the card is not able to be cloned
once it’s out it requires us cyborgs to spam the officials with requests for it!
